Magnetic holder for gasoline filling spout caps



Feb. 22, 1955 H. L, GREEN ET AL 2,702,683

MAGNETIC HOLDER FOR GASOLINE FILLING SPOUT CAPS Filed Aug. 17, 1951 FIGHAROLD V L. GREEN RAY D. GREEN JACK B. OOSSER lnvcntors attorneys UnitedStates Patent MAGNETIC HOLDER FOR GASOLINE FILLING SPOUT CAPS Harold L.Green, Ray D. Green, and Jack B. Cosser, Port Angeles, Wash.

Application August 17, 1951, Serial No. 242,366

2 Claims. (Cl. 248-309) Our present invention relates to a magneticholding device, and more particularly, to a magnetic holder for gasolinefilling spout caps.

This device includes an annular clamp-to be secured on a gasoline pumphose and includes a magnet of a form suitable to hold a gasoline fillingspout cap when the latter is removed during the servicing of a car.

The accidental loss of gasoline filling spout caps during servicing of acar has long plagued the automobile owner as well as the gasolinestation attendant. The new style automobiles are so shaped that there isoften no convenient place on the car to set the cap and, of course, lossmay occur even with such resting place.

In recent years many gasoline dispensing pumps have been equipped withautomatic shut 01f nozzles which allow the attendant to start thegasoline flowing into the gasoline tank and leave it to shut off byitself when the tank is full. This means that the attendant, who isnormally in the habit of holding the cap in one hand, may carry it to adistant part of the car and there accidentally forget it as he puts itdown for a two handed operation. If on the other hand he rests it on apart of the car such as the top of the trunk he may mar the high glossfinish of the car exterior. Many times automobiles entering the stationsfor gas pull in so that the filling spout is on the opposite side of thecar from the gasoline pump island; and in these cases the passing of thehose across the car and holding it away from the car finish makes thefilling operation a two handed job so the gasoline cap must be discardedtemporarily by the attendant. V

The principal object of our invention therefore is to provide meanswhereby a gasoline filling spout cap may be secured to an objectaccessible to the attendant filling the gasoline tank in an automobilebut in a position which will not interfere with the servicing operation.

A further object of our invention is to provide a gasoline cap holdingmeans which will give a sure gripping of the cap and yet relinquish thecap when a nominal pressure is exerted manually thereon.

A further object is to provide means for securing the gasoline cap tothe gasoline pump hose so that the cap will be called to the attentionof the attendant when the gasoline nozzle is removed from the fillingspout after servicing.

An additional object of this invention is to provide a gasoline capholding device which is easily yet solidly positioned at any point alongthe gasoline pump hose and may be removed quickly and readily therefrom.

Further objects and capabilities of our invention will be apparent fromthe following description and drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of my gasoline cap holding device inrelation to the gasoline pump hose and nozzle shown in phantom;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of our gasoline cap holder; and

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3-3 of Figure 1 with amodified clamping arrangement.

As shown in the drawings, our gasoline cap holder consists of the mainbody portion which houses the gripping magnet 12 positioned to gripmagnetically the cap C. The magnet 12 as is shown in Figures 2 and 3 isan annular permanent magnet which fits our rounded design of the body10. It must be understood however that in certain cases a square orrectangular body portion may be desired and in such cases the normaltype horseshoe magnet may be employed.

The magnet shown in cross section in Figure 3 has a center pole 14 andan outer pole 16 which completely encircles the center pole 14. The twopoles 14 and 16 are of opposite polarity and are joined at their loweredges so as to allow better conductivity of the magnetic flux. The spaceleft between the inner core 14 and the outer ring 16 may be left open ormay be filled with any non conductive material. We prefer to fill thisspace with annular rubber spacer 17 so that it will not become filledwith steel particles which would cut down the efiiciency of the magnet.Having both poles 14 and 16 on the cap engaging surface is imperativefor efficient operation. In the form shown, the magnet will perform itstask effectively. The magnet is embedded within a molded rubber body 18.This may be formed of a resilient plastic but at present a synthetictype rubber is the most practical due to the ease of molding as well asits resistance to mineral oil solvents in which gasoline is classed.This molded rubber extends substantially one half the distance aroundthe hose 20 from each side' which forms the gripping arms 13 and 15. Fortight positive gripping of hose 20 close to the nozzle 21 we haveprovided a spring member 22 which is also embedded within the rubberportion 18.

In some gasoline dispensing stations, such as the large stations of themajor oil companies, or the presently popular serve yourself" stations,the theft of the gas cap holder from the pump hose is possible. Wetherefore have provided the ends of spring 22 with outwardly extendinglugs 24, 26 each of which is provided with a hole therethrough so theymay be secured together by meansof a bolt 28, as shown, or a rivet. Bythis means a gas station attendant does not have to worry about loss ofour cap holder while he is not watching it. On the other hand, a smallstation, with only one set of pumps, is never very far from the islandand therefore the alternate form in Figure 3 is provided. In this casethe lugs 24 and 26 are eliminated from the spring member 22 and the endsof the spring are covered completely by the rubber casing 18. Thiseliminates the possibility of scratching the finish on the car orgasoline pump and makes the holder easy to remove if the owner wants totake it ofli each night as might be desired.

The gasoline spout cap C is placed on holder 10 as the attendant removesthe cap and inserts the pump nozzle into the automobiles gasolinefilling spout. When the tank is filled the attendant removes the nozzle.Even if the attendant is not thinking of replacing the cap, hisattention is directed to the cap either as he removes the nozzle or ashe returns the nozzle and hose to its position on the pump. In additionto providing a safeguard against loss, this holder is convenient to useand the cap is never placed on the car body where it might dissolve thewax finish if it were wet with gasoline.

It is believed that it will be clearly apparent from the abovedescription and the disclosure in the drawings that the inventioncomprehends a novel construction of a magnetic holder for gasolinefilling spout caps.

Having thus disclosed the invention, we claim:

1. A magnetic holder for automobile gasoline filling spout caps adaptedto be clamped on a gasoline pump hose assembly, comprising: a dielectricbody including a main body portion and a pair of inwardly-bowed grippingarms extending from said main body portion and forming together anannular enclosure broken at the free ends of said arms on the oppositeside of said enclosure from said main body portion and a memberpositioned within said body portion and having outwardly turned endsextending from the ends of said arms and means securing together saidoutwardly turned ends; a permanent magnet embedded in said body, on theopposite side of said main body portion from said arms, in a manner soas to leave a substantially exposed face, said exposed face of saidmagnet having a central pole and having an annular pole, of oppositepolarity, encircling said central pole in spaced apart relationshipthereto, said poles being joined together on the opposite side ofavoaesa the magnet from the exposed face, and dielectric materialfilling the space between said poles.

2. A magnetic holder for automobile gasoline filling spout caps adaptedto be clamped on a gasoline pump hose assembly, comprising: a resilient,dielectric body including a main body portion and a pair ofinwardlybowed gripping arms extending from said main body portion andforming together with said main body portion an annular enclosure brokenat the free ends of said arms on the opposite side of said enclosurefrom said main body portion and a spring member in the form of a splitring positioned in said body with the break in the enclosure and thering coinciding, said spring member and arms having sutficientresiliency to pass the maximum size object fitting in said enclosure andbeing adapted to grip a gasoline pump hose or the like; a permanentmagnet embedded in said body, on the opposite side of said main bodyportion from said arms, in a manner so as to leave a substantiallyexposed face, said exposed face of said magnet having a central pole andhaving an annular pole, of opposite polarity, encircling said centralpole in spaced apart relationship thereto with their exposed facescoplanar and dielectric material filling the space between said poles.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,174,887 Meriwether Mar. 7, 1916 1,330,802 Greenbowe Feb. 17, 18202,339,606 Sias Jan. 18, 1944 2,409,253 Chris Oct. 15, 1946 2,436,607Rosenthal Feb. 24, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS 267,943 Switzerland July 17,1950

